Self-locking door-guard.



No. 766,331. PATENTED AUG. 2, 1904.

E. H. DOHERTY.

SELF LOCKING DOOR GUARD.

APPLIOATIOH IILBD MAR. 24, 1904.

N0 MODEL- 2 BHEETSSHEET 1- FIE. 1

IN Ml WITNEEEEEI INVENTEIR PATENTED AUG. 2, 1 904.

E. H. DOHERTY. SELF LOCKING DOOR GUARD.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 24, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

N0 MODEL.

FIE. 3

iNVENTEIR WITNEEgEE IF 14 M73 7 w J U Patented August 2, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.v

EUGENE HUGH DOHERTY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SELF-LOCKING DOOR-GUARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 766,331, dated August 2, 1904.

Application filed March 24, 1904. Serial No. 199,883. (No model.)

To all whmn it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EUGENE HUGH Do- HER'IY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Self-Locking Door-Guard, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in self-locking door-guards in which a door having my guard attached thereto can be guarded from undesirable visitors such as tramps, burglars, thieves, &c.-in such a way that it allows the door to be opened a small space only, permitting the occupant of the house or flat to see who is outside and prevent ing the would-be intruder from forcing his way in. .My attachment will not give rise to embarrassment, bad feeling, or insult on the part of callers in case they should be desirable and welcome visitors or strangers that one does not know, does not care to offend, and desires, first, to learn of their mission before admitting them, because no heavy chains of any description or bolts or the like are visible from the outside nor any contrivance of any kind can be seen which might give rise to the thought that a heavy and well-protecting guard is attached. The guard is also attached out of reach of any one trying to remove the obstruction. At the same time the occupant can release the guard and throw open the door without stepping away from the door and in such a way that the releasing movement cannot be detected from the outside whatever. The attachment can be kept in either a locking position at all times or can be kept disengaged when there is no danger of any undesirable callers or the only occupant of the place being out himself. I attain these objects by the mechanism in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a door and its casing having my guard attached thereto and showing the door open as far as the guard permits and in a locked position. Fig.

2 is a front view of a door and its casing having my guard attached to the door being closed, showing in addition the releasinghandle at or near the center of the door-panels in a position hooked to the releasing-chain in dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a top view of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a side view of Fig. 2 and showing the position of the door when open and its guard kept up out of operation when visitors are being admitted in dotted lines.

Similar figures refer to similar parts throughout the several views. v

The door-casing 1 has at its top a bracket 2 attached thereto with its base-line on or close to the top edge of the door 3. The bracket 2 is bolted, nailed, screwed, or riveted onto the door-casing 1 and is made preferably hollow and of light and strong metal or other material. Said bracket 2 has a catch i pivotally secured to the bracket 2, the bolt5 acting as a fulcrum and at the same time securing the catch 4 to the bracket 2. A chain 6 is passed down through an aperture 25in the projection Z of the bracket 2 and is secured to the catch 4 in the holes 4 of said catch 4. The catch et has also a depression or cut L forming a tooth near its end, which actsas the contact or catching point. The lower side i of the movable end part of the catch 4 is rounded off, so as to allow the door when the catch is disengaged to readily pass under it without any friction. Near or close to the top edge of the door 3 is attached, by screws, bolts, nails, or rivets, the strip 7, which is adapted to engage in the cavity or groove '7 the tooth end at of the catch 4:. The front edge 7 is slightly out out on a radius, so as to permit an easier enteringof the tooth end a into the cavity 7 of the strip 7. The chain 6, being attached to the catch 4 and passing out through the aperture 9/ of the bracket 2 and making a bond as soon as emergingfrom said aperture 2, continues on a horizontal line to the eyelet 8, attached in the door-casing. It then turns downwardly on a vertical line to the eyelet 9. Passing through said eyelet it again continues on to a horizontal line to the eyelet 10, and passing through it the chain 6 ends up in a handle 11, attached thereon, hanging down vertically at or near the center of panels of the door 3. Between the eyelets 9 and 10 a ring 12 is fastened into and is forming a part of the chain 6 and is placed in such a position that when the catch is to be kept up and permanently out of operation the hook 13 of the handle 11 is put into the ring 12, and by doing so the chain 6 is pulled back sufficiently to raise the catch 4 high enough to allow the door 3 to pass under it. It will be seen that When the handle 11 is not hooked to the ring 12 the law of gravity will always compel the catch 4 to hang down below the top edge of the door 3. Whenever the door 3 is opened, the catchwill permit it only to turn back as far as thetooth end 4 of the catch and hold it there. The catch not being visi ble from the outside, the intruder Will in vain look for the forbidding device, and the occupant Will be safe. If the visitor is Welcome, the operator will pull the chain 6 either downwardly or toward the knob of the door and the chain 6, passing along and through the different eyelets 8, 9, and 10 and through the aperture 2' of the bracket 2, and will thereby at once raise the catch I, said catch 4 will swing up above the top edge of the door 3 and permit the door to swing back and open. After the door is again closed the mechanism resets itself and is again ready for the same operation. In the place of eyelets 8, 9, and

10 suitable rollers, hooks, or idlers of convenient construction can be substituted.

the place of chains 6 wires, ropes, or rods can be substituted.

It will be seen that the minor details of the construction can be altered in many ways without departing from the spirit of my invention; but

What I claim, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a self-locking door-guard, the combination of a bracket attached to the door-casing above a door, and a hook-ended gravity-latch pivoted therein, and said hooked-ended gravity-latch adapted to automatically engage a keeper attached to the door-frame at the top of a door, a chain connected to the said hookedended gravity-latch, and passing through an opening in said bracket to guides upon the door-casing and on the door, a hooked handle connected to said chain for raising and lowering said gravity-latch, and for securing said chain at various points, substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to thisspecification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EUGENE HUGH DOHERTY.

Witnesses:

JOHN AUGUSTIN DOHERTY, ADA E. TAYLOR. 

